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Sunday, 16 February 2014

A new project - my first novel

Yes, that's right after over 50 years of writing non-fiction, lyrics and lately poetry, I am attempting my first novel.

Sci-Fi and Fantasy have always been my favourite genres and so I have
decided that one of these two will be the way I will go. I have been
seeing so much of late relating to "how-to-do-it" that I started to
wonder if I had it in me and the last session finally stung me into
action. I have made promises before but never quite carried them through
so I am making this public right from the start as a sort of rod for my
own back. That way it might get finished. I have no timing in mind at
the moment however, so don't hold your breath.

Of course, I may need to start another blog (this blog has been started to fill this role) to cater for this new
direction for my creative writing but that is something for another day.
I will be taking a few steps along the road before I do that (decided that a new blog had to happen sooner than expected, so strike whilst the iron is hot is my motto) .

Talking about a few steps, the early stages can be likened to outlining a
technical report or thesis, of which I am very familiar but there are
many references to the method for those writers less well-off. One
article, called "The Snowflake Method"
reads very well and I shall be particularly be taking note of the many
aspects of writing which sound like very good advice to a sheer novice.
Simpler although just as effective articles on outlining abound on the internet.

Step 1 in The Snowflake Method, is to write a sentence giving a
top level overview of the novel. The sort of thing you will see when a
book is advertised, so it must encompass thte story and the main
character and the goals. So here is my second attempt. I needed to
shorten my first, as the method recommends no more thaan 15 words. here
it is:-

Our Battle-worn hero returns home from war to find his kingdom ruled by "Fear".

I am still not sure about this but each stage can be modified as you
work through the method. It will do for now. I have put Fear into
inverted commas because the antagonist will be an evil twin of our hero,
created by a magical accident as he left to go to war.

But that's enough for now, I am eager to get on with the next stage,
although I will be hoping to create the world in which this story
unfolds from scratch, just a whim!